Last week, the mailman braved the ice and snow to bring Grandma Coco a big puffy envelope. Ooohhh, we love puffy envelopes! Inside there was a shiny new book hot off the presses from That Patchwork Place.
¡Quilt Fiesta! – Surprising Designs From Mexican Tiles by Cheryl Lynch is just the thing for a mid-winter picker-upper. It’s a little bit travelogue, a little bit history and a whole lot of great quilting.
Cheryl Lynch went on vacation to La Puebla, Mexico and was inspired by the tiles that the local artisans have been making there for the past 400 years. And no wonder she was inspired! Those tiles were just begging to be translated into quilts. And that’s just what Cheryl’s done.
But first, she reminds us that perfection is highly overrated. She says it’s better to finish a job than to abandon it because we can’t make it perfectly. How true. The Mexican tile painters don’t aim for perfection. What’s important to them is “the joy of creation”. “Enjoy the process”, says Cheryl Lynch. That’s something Grandma Coco is trying to learn.
You see, Grandma Coco has always enjoyed doing things in a methodical and meticulous manner. She’s kind of a control freak. But Mr. Coco…well, he isn’t really a detail-oriented person. Close enough and pretty near are good enough for him. And you know, most of the time, in the end, his projects turn out just fine. As much as she loves her Mr. Coco, sometimes this just makes her crazy.
So, when Cheryl Lynch says you can make beautiful quilts like the ones in her book without worrying about perfection, Grandma Coco wanted to know how. What she’s discovered is one of the things that sets this book apart … Cheryl Lynch offers actual techniques and tricks that bridge the gap between Mr. Coco’s slap-dash-ness and Grandma Coco’s OCD (Obsessively, Compulsively Disordered) approach. Cheryl Lynch has a background in science (she was a graduate student in chemistry at MIT when she made her first quilt) and maybe that’s why she has developed some seriously clever techniques to insure perfect-looking results. Grandma Coco has observed that people who use their left brains a lot, don’t leave things to chance. So, when Cheryl Lynch encourages us to forget about perfection, we can do that because in her book she’s given us the tools to stack the deck in our favour.
The designs in this book are based on fusing fabric and on foundation piecing. You all know that Grandma Coco has been a bit of a technophobe in the past and that she is trying now as an old(-ish) dog to learn new tricks. Fusing fabric blocks was just the kick-start she needed. She decided to tackle the Black Bean Mole quilt.
There are 4 things that Cheryl says are good to have to accomplish the quilts in ¡Quilt Fiesta! :
- An open-toe presser foot………Check.
- Blanket stitch option……………Nope.
- Needle-down option…………… Nope.
- Knee-lift………………………... Nope.
Oh, well. There are always work-arounds. Cheryl says you can use a narrow zig-zag in place of the blanket stitch so that’s what we tried. And, you know what? It worked just fine. There are 2 versions of the Black Bean Mole quilt shown in the book….a luscious brown and rust one and a summery blue and white one. Such different looks from the same pattern! We decided to try blues and celery green.
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| Grandma Coco's version of the Black Bean Mole quilt from ¡Quilt Fiesta! |
We've only made 4 blocks so far but here, by the magic of photo manipulation, is what a larger quilt might look like. Pretty, right?
If Grandma Coco can do this with her bottom-of-the-line 40-year-old Singer, then, really, anyone can do it.
We changed the corner beans to hearts because Cheryl said we could. Well, OK, not us personally. But she wrote a whole chapter on design and switching things up. Grandma Coco has trouble colouring inside the lines. She’s really not too keen on books that are merely recipes….you know, follow these steps and you’ll get this. Exactly. She likes books that give you the basics but then go on to offer options and ideas to set you free to explore your own vision. This is her kind of book.
¡Quilt Fiesta! offers patterns for 10 projects, including quilts, place mats and a bed runner. Each project was inspired by an actual tile (which is pictured) so you can see how the design evolved. All in all, Grandma Coco gives this book an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up!
And the best news is this: We have one copy signed by Cheryl Lynch herself to give away! And you don’t have to live in the Kingdom of Coco to win. We’ll mail it anywhere in the world, so don’t be shy. Leave a comment here on this blog post to have a chance to win it (…but don’t comment anonymously because then Grandma Coco won’t be able to contact you to say you’ve won and that would just be a shame). You have until March 1st . ¡Buena suerte!
Grandma Coco’s Designs is pleased to be part of the blog tour for this book.
And, of course, to learn more about Cheryl Lynch, and see the actual
¡Quilt Fiesta! quilts hanging at her official book launch, you’ll want to visit her blog:
http://www.cheryllynchquilts.blogspot.com/
This contest is now closed and a winner has been announced.
